1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a composition for the prevention and treatment of postmenopausal syndrome containing Aceriphyllum rossii extract or its fractions as an active ingredient. More precisely, the present invention relates to a composition or health improving functional food for the prevention and treatment of postmenopausal syndrome comprising Aceriphyllum rossii extract or its fractions extracted by using water, alcohol or the mixed solvent of the two as an active ingredient.
2. Description of the Related Art
According to the recent changes in diet and life style of people, metabolic disease increases rapidly not only in Korea but also in every country. As aging progresses, such metabolic disease is accompanied, for example obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease hyperlipidemia and fatty liver. Particularly, females experience rapid decrease of hormone, especially estrogen, after menopause, accompanied by many different side effects, which is called postmenopausal syndrome. Symptoms of postmenopausal syndrome are hot flush, acute changes of heart rate, sleep disorder, neurosis, hypersensitiveness, concentration decrease, depression, anxiety, self-confidence deficiency, sexual desire deficiency, osteoporosis, and atherosclerosis. As an example, osteoporosis is the disease caused by the decrease of bone density and ossein with reducing bone strength, which results frequent fracture even by a light impact. This disease is frequent among females having been through menopause. Those postmenopausal women who have severe fatty liver are more apt to develop osteoporosis and show lower bone density. It has been actually suggested that obesity is closely related to symptoms of postmenopausal syndrome. That is, in postmenopausal women, obesity is closely connected to metabolic disease. The estrogen signal transduction pathway closely relates to not only hormone-dependent disease such as osteoporosis but also metabolic disease (Han et al., 2008, J. Korean Acad. Fam. Med., 29:114-120; Oh, 2009, Korean Diabetes J. 33:169-177; Lobo, 2008, Maturitas, 60: 10-18). To treat postmenopausal syndrome, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) that administrates estrogen artificially into women in menopause has been widely performed.
Estrogen is divided into two groups, which are natural estrogen and synthetic estrogen. The most common method for the administration of the synthetic estrogen is oral administration. However, parenteral administration using transdermal patch, transdermal cream, gel or vaginal cream is also available. But this artificial injection of the synthetic estrogen is controversial because of high risk of uterine cancer, breast cancer, phlebothrombosis, and gallbladder disease according to the long term administration, even though it is effective in improvement of climacteric symptom. Therefore, studies have been actively going on to find out natural estrogen, as an alternative to the synthetic hormone, particularly derived from a plant that carries less side effects but has similar activity to the synthetic estrogen. In particular, the plant originated natural estrogen is called phytoestrogen.
Phytoestrogen indicates a nonsteroidal compound originated from a plant having a similar structure and functions to the female hormone estrogen, which is largely found in stems, roots, flowers and seeds of plants. Phytoestrogen includes isoflavone of bean and kudzu, coumestan of clover, and lignan of flax seed. In addition, flavanones, flavones, and dihydrocalchones are also included in phytoestrogen. Isoflavone exists as inactive glucoside of biochanin A and formononetin in plants. Once it is absorbed in the body, isoflavone is converted into Genistein and daidzein, each having estrogen-like structure, with demonstrating estrogen-like activity. The most representative example of phytoestrogen is Genistein that inhibits protein tyrosine kinase in cells, suggesting that it has anticancer effect resulting in the inhibition of tumor growth (The Journal of Biological Chemistry., 262(12), 5592-5, 1987; Cancer Research., 49, 5111-7, 1989). In the meantime, it has been also reported that Genistein is not effective or even causes cancer in those retain inherited tendency for uterine cancer and breast cancer. Therefore, it is requested to develop a novel phytoestrogen that can complement side effects of Genistein.
Aceriphyllum rossii is a perennial herbaceous plant which belongs to Saxifragaceae originated from frigid and temperate zones of Northern Hemisphere. In Korea, it grows in cracks on the rock or cliff near water stream of valley. This plant grows and reproduces by stretching its root stocks in between cracks on the rock. The shape of its leaf is similar to the shape of the maple leaf. The plant bears its flowers in clusters beautifully, which are white with reddish purple, so that it is attracted as an ornamental plant. Particularly, young leaves or soft stems before blooming have been eaten as salad or as cooked, suggesting that the plant is superior to other estrogen alternative plants in safety with less side effects. Aceriphyllum rossii has a wide spectrum of pharmaceutical activity and its anti-oxidant activity, anticancer activity and antiviral activity have already been reported (Kang et al., 2009, Cancer Prevention Research, 14(1) 34-39; Han et al., 2004, Arch. Pharm. Res., 27(4) 390-395; Zheng et al., 2008, J. Agric. Food Chem., 56: 11752-11756). However, other activities of Aceriphyllum rossii in relation to anti-obesity activity, phytoestrogen activity and osteogenesis promoting activity have not been disclosed, yet.
The present inventors screened another phytoestrogen alternative among domestic native plants, particularly among wild greens, during which a composition comprising Aceriphyllum rossii extract or its fractions having activity to estrogen response element (ERE) was identified. And further, the inventors confirmed that the composition had the effect of inducing differentiation into osteoblasts and the effect of inhibiting differentiation into adipocytes. Accordingly, the inventors confirmed that the said composition can not only be used as a hormone alternative composition having phytoestrogen like activity but also be effective in treating metabolic disease such as obesity. At last, the present inventors completed this invention by confirming that the Aceriphyllum rossii extract or its fractions have estrogen activity, so that they could be used as a hormone alternative composition for relieving symptoms of postmenopausal syndrome, suggesting that they could be used as a composition for the prevention and treatment of postmenopausal syndrome.